Part I. The party -- Myth 1: Communism is dead in China -- Myth 2: China is centrally controlled -- Myth 3: The leadership is deeply divided -- Myth 4: The Communist Party is a monolith -- Myth 5: The military is gaining political influence -- Myth 6: The Communist regime lacks legitimacy -- Myth 7: Falun Gong is an apolitical movement that is persecuted because of its religious beliefs -- Myth 8: The Chinese media is just a mouthpiece of the Communist Party -- Part II. The people -- Myth 9: Chinese culture is incompatible with democracy -- Myth 10: The Chinese have no manners -- Myth 11: Chinese people are not altruistic -- Myth 12: The individual has no value, only the collective -- Myth 13: All Chinese are only children -- Myth 14: The Chinese people are homogeneous -- Myth 15: Communism has created gender equality in China -- Myth 16: The Chinese are atheists -- Myth 17: Shanghai is more liberal than Beijing -- Part III. Business and the economy -- Myth 18: "China Inc." is buying up the world -- Myth 19: China has the United States over a barrel -- Myth 20: China's economy is export-driven -- Myth 21: Chinese people are born moneymakers -- Myth 22: The Chinese don't take risks -- Myth 23: The Chinese are just copycats -- Myth 24: The state is a hindrance to economic development in China -- Myth 25: The unequal distribution of wealth is a source of social and political unrest -- Myth 26: All economic development is happening in the big cities on China's east coast -- Part IV. China and the world -- Myth 27: The Chinese are racists -- Myth 28: The Communist Party is kindling nationalism -- Myth 29: China will once again dominate East Asia -- Myth 30: China is colonizing Africa -- Myth 31: China is an environmental baddie -- Myth 32: The Chinese could tame North Korea...if they wanted to -- Myth 33: China does not interfere in other states' internal affairs -- Part V. The past -- Myth 34: China's history spans five millennia -- Myth 35: China is called the "Middle Kingdom" because Chinese people believe their country is the center of the world -- Myth 36: China discovered the world in 1421 -- Myth 37: All women were oppressed in ancient China -- Myth 38: China has no warrior tradition -- Myth 39: Chinese history goes in circles -- Myth 40: Tibet was a "Shangri-La" until the Chinese came -- Myth 41: Mao was a monster -- Myth 42: The Chinese do not care about their own historical heritage -- Part VI. The future -- Myth 43: The internet will topple the Communist Party -- Myth 44: The end of the Communist regime is near -- Myth 45: The Chinese are masters of long-term thinking -- Myth 46: The RMB will eclipse the dollar as the world's reserve currency -- Myth 47: China is a military threat -- Myth 48: Chinese will replace English as the world's language -- Myth 49: The twenty-first century belongs to China